Mayan Calendar and 2012 End of the World Open Mic Mayan Calendar and 2012 End of the World Every other doomsday theory that you come across is likely to associate the end of the world in 2012 with the Mayan prophecy. But does the Mayan calendar predict the end of the world in 2012, or any other year for that matter? Continue reading to find out... The belief that the world will come to an end on 21st December, 2012, has been fueled by misinterpretation of a number of recent occurrences - including the allegedly mysterious phenomenon of birds and fish dying, destructive floods in Australia and Brazil, cataclysmic earthquakes in Haiti and Chile,.... and so on. As you go through all those stories/theories about the end of the world, you come across one common link in all of them - the ancient civilization of Maya. In fact, all these stories/theories trace the origin of the end of the world to a Mayan prophecy. Now, this is not the first time we are talking about the end of the world.

There have been numerous instances wherein self-proclaimed experts/theorists have predicted the end of the world on specific dates - all of which eventually turned out to be a bluff. The last of these bluffs occurred on 11th November, 2011, wherein the perfect same-numbered palindrome was touted to be the end of the world, but as always nothing happened. Though there have been several apocalypse predictions in the past, none has been as popular as the 2012 apocalypse prediction. The popularity of 2012 phenomenon is aptly highlighted by the millions of end of the world countdown clocks flooding the cyberspace. So what's so special about this Mayan prophecy about the world end in 2012? According to the interpretation of Mayan calendar, 2012 is supposed to be the end of the Great Cycle - and it is believed that this Great Cycle will come to an end with a cataclysmic disaster that would cause apocalypse, and end the life on this planet. Whether this Mayan prediction really holds ground or not, is a question which demands some serious thinking. Did the Mayan Predictions Ever Come True?

Historical records are all praises for the Mayan civilization - especially for the amount knowledge about astronomy that the Mayans possessed. They used their astronomical knowledge to predict celestial occurrences, such as the solar and lunar eclipses, in times when the state-of-the-art equipment that we use today was not even in its conceptual state. Their knowledge about the solar system and predictions about celestial occurrences were near-accurate, if not perfect. In fact, they had also predicted a few celestial occurrences of the future, which came true in course of time. The fact that quite a few Mayan predictions about the celestial occurrences have come true, has fueled the widespread belief that the 2012 Mayan calendar predictions about the end of the world will also come true, and that the life on this planet will come to an abrupt end on 21st December, 2012. Now this is a classic case of mass hysteria wherein people have started preparing themselves for an apocalypse without trying to find out the truth. The foremost question to be asked is that, did the Mayans ever predict that some cataclysmic event would bring the world to an end in 2012.... or is it just one of the numerous misinterpretations of archaeological find?

What did the Mayans Say about End of the World? Basically, the 2012 predictions about the world coming to an end are closely related to the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar which had an important place in the Mayan culture. The Long Count calendar was basically a calendar which traced the 'Great Cycle' - a period which lasted for 1,872,000 days or 5,125.37 years. This period of 5,125.37 years was one-fifth of one complete precession of the Equinox, which lasted for about 25,765 years. With their astounding knowledge of astronomy and their astronomical observation, the Mayans were able to identify the precession of the equinox way before we coined the world technology. Using their Long Count calendar, they were able to determine that this phase of the Great Cycle which started on 11th August 3114 BC would come to an end on 21st December, 2012 AD.

The Mayans predicted that the date 21st December, 2012 AD, would mark the end of the Great Cycle, and not the end of the world as it is widely believed. That makes it more than obvious that all the myths about Mayan calendar predictions about the world end are attributed to the misinterpretation of various Mayan prophecies. There is no doubt about the fact that the Mayans were far ahead of their time; their achievements aptly validate this claim. But saying that they had predicted the end of the world and preparing for the scheduled date would be nothing short of absurdity. At the end of the day, there are no records about the Mayans predicting anything about the year 2012 marking the end of the world. In fact, it would be utter foolishness to blame one of the most advanced civilizations of the world for all the chaos that is happening on the planet today. The chaotic situation which we find ourselves into today has surfaced because of some self-proclaimed doomsday experts and our lack of critical thinking.

It is similar to the end of the world predictions by several other individuals, including the French astrologer Nostradamus in the past and the American Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping more recently, which are being used by some selfish people for their own selfish gains.While that must have helped you get rid of all your myths about the alleged end of the world according to the Mayan prophecy, there is no dearth of such prophecies in the world. Just a bit of common sense, and you can nail the lie without much difficulty. Basically the 2012 end of the world confusion is one of the numerous hoax calls which we have been subjected to since hundreds of years now. For those who are feeling restless about what will actually happen on the 21st December, 2012? In most likelihood, everybody will be laughing at themselves for believing in something like the 'apocalypse', while all the conspiracy theorists out there will focus their attention on the impending end of the world in 2060.

By Abhijit Naik December 21, 2012 - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com December 21, 2012 A+E Networks Introduction For years there was speculation that on December 21, 2012, the world as we know it would end. Some predicted that we’d be wiped out by a natural disaster like a giant tidal wave, an Earth-wide earthquake or a tremendous volcanic eruption. Others believed that on that day in December, the Earth would collide with a mysterious “Planet X,” causing magnetic pole shifts, gravitational reversals or a black hole so big that our solar system would simply disappear. What’s more, believers said that this news was not really news at all; on the contrary, they argued, we have known about the coming apocalypse since the ancient Maya predicted and recorded it on their Long Count calendar more than 2,200 years ago. Google The Ancient Maya Of course, there is no concrete evidence that the Maya–a diverse group of indigenous people who lived in parts of present-day Mexico , Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and northwestern Honduras from about 2000 B.C.–could truly predict the future.

They did, however, develop one of the most sophisticated and complex civilizations in the Western Hemisphere. They figured out how to grow corn, beans, squash and cassava in sometimes-inhospitable places; how to build elaborate cities without modern machinery; how to communicate with one another using one of the world’s first written languages; and how to measure time using not one but two complicated calendar systems. Did You Know? Historians have surmised that the Maya chose the Long Count calendar's base date to commemorate the mid-August 3114 BC passage of the sun over a particularly sacred site in southern Mexico. The Calendar Round The first Mayan calendar, known as the Calendar Round system, was based on two overlapping annual cycles: a 260-day sacred year and a 365-day secular year that named 18 months with 20 days each. (Five “unlucky” unnamed days were tacked on at year’s end.) Under this system, each day was assigned four pieces of identifying information: a day number and day name in the sacred calendar and a day number and month name in the secular calendar.

Every 52 years counted as a single interval, or Calendar Round, and after each interval the calendar would reset itself like a clock. The Long Count Calendar But because the Calendar Round measured time in an endless loop, it was a bad way to fix events in an absolute chronology or in relationship to one another over a long period. For this job, a priest working in about 236 B.C. devised another system: a calendar that he called the Long Count. The Long Count system identified each day by counting forward from a fixed date in the distant past. (In the early 20th century, scholars found that this “base date” was August 11 or August 13, 3114 BC.) It grouped days into sets, or cycles, as follows:baktun (144,000 days), k’atun (7,200 days), tun (360 days), uinal or winal (20 days) and kin (one day).

(So, for example, a date that was exactly 144,000 days from the calendar’s base date would be called 1.0.0.0.0, for 1 baktun, 0 k’atun, 0 tun, 0 uinal and 0 kin.) The Long Count calendar worked the same way that the Calendar Round did–it cycled through one interval after another–but its interval, known as a “Grand Cycle,” was much longer. One Grand Cycle was equal to 13 baktuns, or about 5,139 solar years. The End of the World? The Maya who developed the Long Count calendar believed the end of one cycle would simply signal the beginning of another. According to this logic, a new Grand Cycle would start on December 22, 2012. However, some people in the U.S. and Europe came to believe that the calendar would not reset itself. Instead, they said, the end of the cycle would bring the end of the world.

Some of these doomsayers claimed that there was a scientific explanation for their prediction: On December 21, they said, the winter solstice and the Milky Way’s equator would align. For their part, scientists pointed out that the coincidence of these two events would actually have no effect on the Earth–and furthermore, without 20th-century radio telescopes the Maya could not have known that the galactic equator even existed, much less where it would be in 2,000 years. Other prognosticators had more outlandish theories. Some believed that the Maya were following extraterrestrial instructions when they developed their calendar, for instance, while others fear that aliens would use the Long Count calendar to time their takeover of our planet. Either way, this vision of the future was an unpleasant one, combining Biblical plagues like fires and floods with more cinematic catastrophes like planetary collisions, extreme global warming and mass extinction, and explosions large and small. Today, there are more than 6 million Maya in Mexico and Central America, and very few of them are expecting Armageddon in 2012.

In fact, scholars say that Mayan communities call the end-of-the-world stories “gringo inventions.” Tags Mayan apocalypse: End of the world, or a new beginning? - BBC News BBC News Mayan apocalypse: End of the world, or a new beginning? By Jane Little BBC News, Washington 19 December 2012 Close share panel Image caption Selections from the Mayan calendar One in 10 of us is said to be anxious that 21 December marks the end of the world. The Ancient Mayans predicted this doomsday, and the press is eating it up. But where are all the believers? That the world will end in 2012 is the most widely-disseminated doomsday tale in human history, thanks to the internet, Hollywood and an ever-eager press corps. Recent hurricanes, unrest in the Middle East, solar flares, mystery planets about to collide with us - all "proof" of what the ancient Mayans knew would come to pass on 21 December 2012. According to a Reuters global poll , one in 10 of us is feeling some anxiety about this date.

Russians have been so worried that the Minister of Emergency Situations issued a denial that the world would end. Authorities in the village of Bugarach in the South of France have barred access to a mountain where some believe a UFO will rescue them. And survivalists in America - many of whom use the term "prepper" - have been busy preparing for all manner of cataclysm. Decoding the Mayan calendar The "Long Count" cycle of the Mayan calendar began in 3114 BCE and is widely accepted to end on 21/12/12 CE. Except that in Simon Martin's view, everyone has got it wrong. Martin is curator of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia's "Maya 2012" exhibition. He says the calendar is complex, and best thought of as a series of gear wheels. He points out that at a Mayan site in Palenque, Mexico, there is an inscription describing an event that takes place in 4,722 of our era, "and that is the turning of an even bigger cycle", he says. He adds that technically this is also not the start of a new cycle.

In 3114 BCE the calendar reset to zero with the turning of the 13th bak'tun (which is a smaller, 400 year cycle). This time, however, it does not reset to zero but merely goes on to the 14th bak'tun. "The Mayan Calendar is a weird and wonderful thing," he says. So I set out to find people who believe 21/12/12 is D-Day. It was harder than I imagined, despite seeking out preppers, bunker builders, and even a Mayan shaman. Eventually I turned to Morandir Armson, a scholar of the New Age and Esoterica at the University of Sydney, Australia. "If you told me there were more than 5,000 people who genuinely believed the end of the world was coming rather than just having vague fears about it, I'd be surprised," he says. Armson adds that those people are probably "in the wilds of Idaho, heavily armed, and won't talk to journalists anyway". The heightened fear around this date is, in his view and that of other experts, almost entirely due to the internet. More specifically they blame the blogosphere.

It is not how the whole 2012 phenomenon started. In 1987, Jose Arguelles, a man who devoted much of his life to studying the Mayan Calendar, organised what was called the Harmonic Convergence, a sort of post-hippy Woodstock. It attracted tens of thousands around the globe. The event was an attempt to "create a moment of meditation and connection to the sacred sites around the earth," says Daniel Pinchbeck, author of 2012: The Year of the Mayan Prophecy. It was also the beginning of what many in the loosely-defined New Age movement regard as a process in the transformation of our consciousness - a transformation that goes into full effect at the end of this year. Pinchbeck calls 21/12/12 the "hinge point" of the emergence of a new, more enlightened age - not an ending point for all civilisation. "It is quite clear that the Mayan system envisages a new cycle of the calendar beginning on the 22 December 2012," says Graham Hancock, author of Fingerprints of the Gods, and something of a rock star in the world of ancient mysteries enthusiasts.

Hear the full programme Jane Little's documentary, "2012: The End of Time?" was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 GMT on 17 December. Visit the site below to listen online. Listen here He says the ancient Mayan culture was a shamanic one. Those who left us the calendar were visionaries who were providing clues to this ending of one cycle and the beginning of another. That is not to say that New Agers do not see catastrophic events as necessary in some way to this new birth. In fact they tend to embrace eastern faiths and native cultures with their cyclical views of time. In these visions, the world has been and will be destroyed - to some degree - and we start anew. Accordingly, some believe the Mayans were sending us a warning for 2012. "We may see a lot of destruction," says Pinchbeck. He points to Hurricane Sandy, which recently hit his home city of New York. Many, including the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, linked that hurricane to global warming, which tends to be seen by New Agers as the main threat to our planet. However the New Age movement is full of optimists.

Crucially, they say we have a choice in how this story ends. A survivalist prepper plays it safe Robyn Peterson lives in a small 1920s bungalow in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. On the inside it is no ordinary house. And she is no ordinary woman. "When everyone else was playing with dolls, I was dreaming about my survival communities," says Peterson. She bought the house for the thickness of the walls in the basement, where she stores a sizeable stash of dehydrated food, water, and medical supplies, and a handgun. This is just one of four safe houses she has in Denver. She has also made her childhood dream a reality, having created a survival community in the Rocky Mountains of Southwestern Colorado. The former ranch resort has log cabins, natural aquifers and room for up to 300 people. Some of them, she says, paid $80 (£49) through a lottery system to gain a place. But she has also been selecting people based on skills they have to offer. She says doctors and electricians have been signing up. The deadline for the community to be ready was 10 December.

Peterson, however, does not think that 21 December is definitely doomsday. She also talks of March and April next year as times that could see destruction. "We do not have to step over the edge of the abyss into darkness and destruction," Hancock says, calling this point in time a "cusp moment." "It's up to us. It's totally up to us." Morandir Armson, the Australian scholar, says the belief that 2012 marks a positive shift is one also shared by UFO groups, such as the Ashtar Command and the Ground Crew. These groups have no headquarters but for internet sites. He says they refer to themselves as "lightworkers" who believe a fleet of alien space ships hover around our solar system. "By doing good works on earth [they believe] you can speed up the consciousness of our humanity," says Armson. In many ways, they emphasise the more positive aspects of the traditional Christian Apocalypse. The fire-and-brimstone part gets downplayed in favour of the glorious Kingdom to come. Some 20% of Americans believe we are in the end times, and that they will see the return of Jesus Christ in their lifetime.

This month marks Advent in the Christian Calendar, during which Christians are encouraged to read from the Book of Revelation, the apocalyptic vision of St John the Divine. "It's full of gory and grotesque detail of how the wicked are going to be punished," says Ted Harrison, author of Apocalypse When: Why We Want to Believe there Will Be No Tomorrow. The twenty-first of December, however, is not on the biblical calendar and few, if any, believers in the traditional Book of Revelation are attached to this date. The supposed date of the coming apocolypse, 21 December, also marks the Winter Solstice, symbolic in many cultures of the end of darkness and the renewal of the light. It might, suggests Harrison, focus our minds on how we have been treating the planet and those on it, and how we could mend our ways. In this respect, he says, "It might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That's one hope. A remote one, but it is one hope." Might 2012 Mean Something?

- End of Mayan Calendar 2012 from CogWriter Website With 2012 fast approaching, there has been seemingly increased interest in certain ancient Mayan writings and calendar predictions. Specifically, December 21, 2012 is when the Mayaï¿½s ï¿½Long Countï¿½ calendar marks the end of a 5,126-year era. Here is some information about it: The date December 21st, 2012 A.D. (13.0.0.0.0 in the Long Count), represents an extremely close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator (Equator of the Milky Way) and the Ecliptic (path of the Sun), what that ancient Maya recognized as the Sacred Tree. This is an event that has been coming to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years. It will come to resolution at exactly 11:11 am GMT.

( ) While most people believe nothing other than some astronomical occurrences will happen then (and the Mayans were apparently correct about that according to astronomers), some believe that the Mayan date may mark the end of civilization or perhaps the beginning of a time of great tribulation. It is also getting increasingly popular to refer to the astronomical event as the "galactic alignment" ( Nostradamus and 2012 - History Channel, original air date 01/04/2009) - though most astronomers have difficultly identifying the center of the Milky Way galaxy. USA Today reported the following in an article titled Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse?: Journalist Lawrence Joseph forecasts widespread catastrophe in Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific Investigation Into Civilization's End. Spiritual healer Andrew Smith predicts a restoration of a "true balance between Divine Feminine and Masculine" in The Revolution of 2012: Vol. 1, The Preparation. In 2012, Daniel Pinchbeck anticipates a "change in the nature of consciousness," assisted by indigenous insights and psychedelic drug use... Part of the 2012 mystique stems from the stars.

On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time," Joseph writes. (G. Jeffrey MacDonald. Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse? USA Today. ) What the records actually were intended to mean by the ancient Mayans is unknown and has been subject to a lot of debate. But literally, the destruction of the planet seems to be shown. When the Spaniards came across the Mayans, they considered them to have pagan practices associated with the devil. Because of that, once they conquered them, they began to burn and otherwise destroy most of the writings of their civilization (known as codices), most notably under the direction of Bishop Diego de Landa. These Mayan codices are now known as the Madrid, Dresden, and Paris codices.

There also is a fourth, the Grolier codex, whose authenticity is sometimes disputed, but may be genuine--only a few pages from it survive. From time to time, other fragments of Mayan writings of this period have also been found. The Dresden Codex contains the highest amount of astronomical observations and calculations of any of the surviving texts. One writer (probably Robert Bast who has his own "wiki") has stated this about the Mayans and the calendar: Like the Aztec and Inca who came to power later, the Maya believed in a cyclical nature of time. The rituals and ceremonies were very closely associated with celestial/terrestrial cycles which they observed and inscribed as separate calendars. The Maya priest had the job of interpreting these cycles and giving a prophetic outlook on the future or past based on the number relations of all their calendars. They also had to determine if the "heavens" or celestial matters were appropriate for performing certain religious ceremonies (Mayan Civilization. ). The actual Wikipedia states: The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar forms the basis for a New Age belief, first forecast by Josï¿½ Argï¿½elles, that a cataclysm will take place on or about 21 December 2012.

(Maya Calendar. Wikipedia. ). On two different programs, The History Channel claimed: The Mayan calendar seems to say that the world will end in 2012 (Crowley, Phil. 2012, Decoding the Past. Original air date 03/01/07). The ancient Maya have prophesied that the world will come to the end on 13 Baktun on their current calendar. This date translates to December 21st, 2012... A new age may occur... Others... see destruction... The last page of the Dresden codex actually shows the destruction of the world via water... This graphic illustration depicts the destruction of the earth by flood... Others see it as a day of rebirth... Others see it literally, with very severe consequences (Mayan Doomsday Prophecy, Decoding the Past. Original air date 08/03/06). So we see two interpretations from different sources that indicate that either something terrible or something very good will happen in or near the end of 2012.

Other Comments on 2012 On The History Channel, Steve Alten, author of Domain, stated: The four prior cycles all ended in destruction. So when we talk about the Mayan doomsday prophecy, we're talking about the end of the fifth cycle, the very last day, which equates to December 21, 2012 (Mayan Doomsday Prophecy, Decoding the Past. Original air date 08/03/06). The History Channel narration after the preceding comment immediately was: This means the fifth and current cycles, like its predecessors, will also end in destruction (Mayan Doomsday Prophecy, Decoding the Past. Original air date 08/03/06). While I do not believe that the end will come then, I do believe that we are getting close to the time of the destruction of civilization as we know it. Regarding the Book titled The Mayan Prophecies Some who read the Mayan works also compared those writings to the modern science of astronomy. Many were intrigued by the fact that a major astronomical alignment was to occur about the same time as the Mayan calendar indicated that something major was to occur.

Here is some additional information from the website of Adrian Gilbert, co-author of the book The Mayan Prophecies (the other co-author is Maurice Cottrell): The Mayans had rather similar beliefs to the Aztecs though with some major differences of emphasis. Several of their bark-books have been preserved showing their amazing knowledge and fascination with astronomy. The most important of these was what is now called the "Dresden Codex", named after the town in whose library it was lodged. This strange book, inscribed with unknown hieroglyphs, was written by Maya Indians who once ruled over much of Central America, the ruins of their once grand civilization littering the jungle. In 1880 a brilliant, German scholar, who was working as a librarian in Dresden at the time, turned his attention to this codex. By a process of extraordinary detective work he cracked the code of the Mayan calendar making it possible for other scholars and explorers to translate the many dated inscriptions to be found on buildings, stelae and other ancient Mayan artifacts. He discovered that the Dresden Codex itself was concerned with astronomy providing detailed tables of lunar eclipses and other phenomenon. These were so accurate that they put our own calendar to shame.

He also found evidence for a curious "magic number"- 1,366,560 days, which could be factorized in a number of ways and which harmonized the cycles of Venus and Mars with two "yearly" cycles also used by the Maya: the sacred tzolkin of 260 days and the Haab of 365 days. However, he also found that they had another system of counting the days relative to a starting date, called the Birth of Venus and now known to be 13 August 3114 BC. This calendar was divided into "months" or uinals of twenty days, "years" or tuns of 360 days and longer periods of 7200 days, (the katun) and 144,000 days, (the baktun). The number 13 was magically important to the Mayans and they believed that, starting from the Birth of Venus, after 13 of these longest periods, or baktuns, the world would come to an end.

This means that working from their start date for the present age of 13 August 3114 BC, this Mayan Prophecy points to a date for the end of the age which is in our own time: 22 December 2012... In 1986 Maurice Cotterell put forward a revolutionary theory concerning astrology and sun cycles . He had for some years suspected that the sun's variable magnetic field had consequences for life on earth. The sun has a complex field which loops and twists itself into knots. It has long been suspected that these loops give rise to sunspots, which are dark blemishes on the sun's skin. The number, size and location of sunspots are constantly changing and as a former Radio Officer, Cotterell was well aware that they have profound effects upon the earth's magnetic envelope, the magnetosphere. Whilst working as Head of Electrical and Communications Engineering (Estates) at Cranfield Institute of Technology, he devised a program that would compute the relationship between the sun's magnetic field and the Earth. As expected his model predicted that there should be a sunspot cycle of roughly eleven and a half years, closely corresponding to what has been observed over several centuries.

However, he also found graphic evidence for longer cycles including a period of 1,366,040 days. His work took a new turn when he read about the Mayan super number from the Dresden Codex: 1,366,560 days. ( ). A critical review of the The Mayan Prophecies book reported the following: Gilbert appears to have written the 212 pages of main text, even summarizing Cotterell's work in his own voice, while Cotterell provides 100 pages of mathematically complex appendices which the casual reader will find impenetrable. These are supposed to provide the rigorous scientific evidence for Cotterell's end-date cataclysm theory, which is as follows. Sunspot cycles give rise to larger solar aberrations in which the sun's magnetic field periodically reverses, causing the earth's pole to shift and thus resulting in cataclysm. According to Cotterell, the solar reversals come in groups of five, which together make a grand cycle of 18,139 years.

The five "ages" are not all of the same length, due to complex solar rhythms which Cotterell modeled on a computer using only three variables. Three of the ages last 3553 years each while two last 3740 years each. These are supposed to correspond to the Mayan or Aztec myth of five (or four) ages. A key number here is the number of days in 3740 years (using 365.25 days per year): 1366035. This number is "close" to a number in the Dresden Codex, written in Long Count notation as 9.9.16.0.0. This corresponds to a date in 627 A.D., which is 1366560 days after the so-called Long Count "zero date" back in 3114 B.C. The closeness of these numbers is supposed to demonstrate that the Maya were aware of sunspot cycles, solar magnetic field reversals, and that is why the Long Count pinpoints 2012 A.D. as a cataclysmic World Age destruction. "From his studies...

Cotterell has concluded that the Maya prophecy for the end of the fifth age concerns a reversal of the earth's magnetic field - around 2012 A.D." ...The inner jacket cover reads: "The present world will end on December 22nd, 2012... So prophesied the Maya 5,000 years ago..." (Review-Essay of Mayan Prophecies by Gilbert and Cotterell, Element Books 1995. Book Review. October 18th, 1995. by John Major Jenkins c. Four Ahau Press, ). The History Channel and other television sources have picked up on us, and now many people are concerned that December 21, 2012/December 22, 2012 will mark a time of destruction and the end of civilization. Several have looked into certain of the books premises and alleged facts and have disagreed with them. However, it is generally agreed that some type of astronomical alignment will occur around December 21, 2012.

A few people seem to believe that on the next day or so (December 22, 2012 or December 23, 2012) that this may mark the beginning of a new and better era for humanity. Personally, I suspect that the European King of the North may become more obvious around that time and may claim (even possibly retrospectively) that he is bringing in the positive era that the Mayan calendar may indicate (the Bible indicates that a European Beast power will be aligned with a future version of the Roman Catholic Church ). However, the Bible shows that although people in many places will at first prosper because of this King of the North (Daniel 11:39; Revelation 18:3), that God will punish those who follow him or have his mark (666). Thus this is not going to be a biblically acceptable "age of peace". Netherland's Worries About 2012 The people of the Netherlands have long been concerned about the possibility of a destructive flood killing many. And partially because of the Mayan prophecies, some in the Netherlands are concerned that they may be predicting the destruction of their nation.

Notice the following news item: The fact is that although Mayan prophecies do mention flooding, the Netherlands will not be destroyed by a flood in 2012. However, it is possible that a few years from then that it could have major flooding problems. Unlike most countries, the much of the Netherlands is below sea level and flooding is truly a national concern. But because I do not believe that massive flooding on that type of scale will likely occur until sometime after ï¿½the Day of the Lordï¿½ begins (which is 2 1/2 years after the Great Tribulation begins), I believe that the most destructive flooding cannot occur before 2014, and most likely will not be for one or more years after that. And yes, I know that there is flooding in the USA. But the type of deadly destruction that the 2012 prophecies appear to be referring to is not likely to happen until a few years AFTER 2012.

ABC News reported that it is not just the Dutch: Thousands Worldwide Prepare for the Apocalypse, Expected in 2012 Two years ago, Patrick Geryl , then 51, quit his job as a laboratory worker for a French oil company. He'd saved up just enough money to last him until December 2012. After that, he thought, he wouldn't need it anyway... ï¿½You have to understand, there will be nothing, nothing left,ï¿½ Geryl told ABC News from his home in Antwerp, Belgium. ï¿½We will have to start an entire civilization from scratch.ï¿½ Thatï¿½s because Geryl believes the world as we know it will end in 2012. He points to the ancient Mayan cyclical calendars, the longest of which last renewed itself approximately 5,125 years ago and is set to end again, supposedly with catastrophic consequences, in 2012. He speaks of the ancient Egyptians, who, he claims, saw 2012 as a year of great change too.

And he points to science: NASA predicts a sharp increase in the number of sunspots and sun flares for 2012, he said, sure to cause electrical failures and satellite disruptions. All this adds up, Geryl said, to unprecedented catastrophe. First, a polar reversal will cause the north to become the south and the sun to rise in the west. Shattering earthquakes, massive tidal waves and simultaneous volcanic eruptions will follow. Nuclear reactors will melt, buildings will crumble, and a cloud of volcanic dust will block out the sun for 40 years. Only the prepared will survive, Geryl said, and not even all of them. These may sound like the ravings of a madman, or perhaps the head of a small apocalyptic sect. But Geryl is not the only one who believes in the apocalypse. Thousands of people worldwide seem to be preparing, in one way or another, for the end of days in 2012. Survival groups exist in Europe, Canada and the United Statesï¿½ "We had Hurricane Katrina, the recent cyclone in Myanmar," Lehmann said. "We've got major flooding in Iowa. We're always going to have natural disasters.

But they are picking up quite frequently now." Lehmann said he eventually hoped to move away from Cape Girardeau, built on the banks of the Mississippi River, to the higher plains of southwest Missouri to keep safe from the floods sure to follow the earthquakes of 2012. Geryl and his Belgian and Dutch followers have similar intentions, though their plan will take them much farther from home. They are looking to buy a plot of land high up in African mountains, where they'll be able to withstand the monstrous tidal waves and wait out the cloud of volcanic dust that they said would block out the sun. Geryl said the group has recently zeroed in on a location, but won't reveal his find for fear of tipping off rival survival groups in the United States and Canada. On that land, Geryl's group, whose core membership consists of 16 people but whose wait list supposedly lists hundreds, will build concrete dwellings or outfit caves for survival... When asked what would happen if December 2012 were to come and go without the earthquakes and tsunamis of his predictions, Geryl fell silent. ï¿½I donï¿½t really contemplate that possibility,ï¿½ he said.

ï¿½[My predictions] are so spectacular, they canï¿½t possibly be wrong.ï¿½ (Will the World End in 2012? ABC News, July 3, 2008. ) The Actual Dresden Codex Here is a picture of page 9 of the Dresden Codex (from the 1880 Fï¿½rstermann edition) - this is the page that suggests that the world will end in a flood. It took quite some time to translate these type of writings. Here is a picture of the last page of the actual Dresden Codex (Kingsborough version) - this is the page that suggests that the world will end in a flood, and although massive flooding will occur, it will not be until after 2012, but will occur after the start of the Great Tribulation. The actual Dresden Codex, with lots of pages can be seen here .

Now: One interpretation, is that the water is showing the world ending in a flood Another interpretation could be that since the figures that the water is near have some black on them, that the water will cleanse the world of evil and a new day will dawn It is also possible that the picture is not related to the 2012 date at all Some have other ideas The Start Dates of the Mayan Baktuns The Mayan long-count calendar consists of time periods with different names. Table of Long Count units Days Mayan calendar: December 21 2012 won't be end of the world says Leonzo Barreno | Daily Mail Online comments Many consider it a joke although others are scared we might never live to see next year thanks to the Mayan calendar’s ‘apocalyptic’ prediction. But Mayan expert Leonzo Barreno, of Saskatchewan, Canada, says the ‘apocalypse’ concept is a false interpretation of the Long Count calendar. The University of Regina journalism professor said Mayan elders taught him that December 21 this year simply marks the start of a new calendar.

Prediction: Mayan expert Leonzo Barreno, of Saskatchewan, Canada, says the 'apocalypse' concept is a false interpretation of the Long Count calendar Mayan calendar: The University of Regina journalism professor said Mayan elders taught him December 21 this year simply marks the start of a new calendar Mr Barreno, who immigrated to Canada from Guatemala 23 years ago, was trained by Mayan elders to read the calendars, reported CBC News. ‘There are two sides to the story,’ he told CBC. ‘The one that we know is this apocalyptic meaning that has been given to the Long Count. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share ‘The other side of the story is the Mayan side, which you rarely see on media articles, because they never interview my own people.’ He said Mayan people are featured for just five seconds of the film 2012, starring John Cusack, which is loosely based on their 'predictions'. Ancient: The Mayan Inscriptions' Palace in Chiapas, Mexico, is pictured.

Many Mayans dismiss the apocalyptic predictions as largely a Western idea ‘When I grew up during my training I never hear the word “end of the world” from the elders or spiritual leaders,’ Mr Barreno added. BOLON YOKTE & BAKTUNS The inscription describes the return of mysterious god Bolon Yokte at the end of a 13th period of 400 years, known as Baktuns, on the equivalent of December 21 2012. It is believed to refer to the end of a cycle of 5,125 years since the beginning of the Mayan Long Count calendar in 3113 B.C. The fragment was a prophecy of ruler Bahlam Ajaw, who wanted to plan the passage of the god. ‘For them it’s a joyous event, not an apocalyptic event. What is coming is the end of a calendar and the beginning of a new one. ‘It’s cyclical,’ he told CBC. ‘This has happened before.

According to the elders it’s the fifth time it’s happened.’ Inscriptions in Tortuguero, Mexico, refer to Bolon Yokte 'descending from the sky' in 2012 - a god associated with war and the underworld. Last month German expert Sven Gronemeyer said it may be a misreading and added he also believes it is simply a calendar change. Portrayal: Mayan people are featured for just seconds in the film 2012, starring John Cusack and Morgan Lily, which is loosely based on their 'predictions' Mr Gronemeyer said his decoding of a Mayan artefact with a reference to a 2012 date shows a transition to a new era in the 5,125-year calendar. 'For them it’s a joyous event, not an apocalyptic event. What is coming is the end of a calendar and the beginning of a new one' Leonzo Barreno Bolon Yokte is a figure also associated with change. Many Mayans also dismiss the apocalyptic predictions as largely a Western idea.

In November Mexican anthropologists said a second inscription with the 2012 date was found on a brick at the Comalcalco ruin, near the Tortuguero site. But experts doubt the second inscription was a definite reference to the date cited as the possible end of the world, as it has no future tense. Mayan apocalypse: panic spreads as December 21 nears - Telegraph USA Mayan apocalypse: panic spreads as December 21 nears Fears that the end of the world is nigh have spread across the world with only days until the end of the Mayan calendar, with doomsday-mongers predicting a cataclysmic end to the history of Earth. Cubans participate in a Mayan ritual at Bacuranao beach in eastern Havana. Photo: AFP/Getty By Nick Allen , Los Angeles, Malcolm Moore in Beijing and Tom Parfitt in Moscow 6:42PM GMT 07 Dec 2012

Question: Which ancient calendar predicted that the world would end on 21st December 2012?
Answer: Mayan